Table 6: Asylum applications submitted by persons registered by the SMA as “stateless”, as having
“unknown” nationality, or as having their nationality “under investigation” during the years 2008 to 201571
Year
Stateless
Unknown
Under investigation
Total number of asylum applicants
during the year (all nationalities)
2008
1,051
115
341
24,353
2009
912
239
304
24,194
2010
1,033
330
405
31,819
2011
1,109
37
258
28,648
2012
2,289
684
276
43,887
2013
6,921
564
288
54,259
2014
7,863
507
281
81,301
2015
7,771
317
918
162,887
As seen in Table 6, the number of asylum applications lodged by persons registered by the SMA as stateless
remained on almost the same level until 2012/2013, when an increasing number of persons originating
from Syria started arriving in Sweden to apply for asylum; this increase has followed the general increase in
the number of asylum applications filed in Sweden. In 2012, 5.2 per cent of the applicants for asylum were
registered as stateless, whereas in 2013, the number rose significantly to 12.7 per cent, before it decreased
to 9.7 per cent in 2014, and then further, to 4.8 per cent of the total number of applicants in 2015, probably
due, at least partly, to the significant overall rise in the number of asylum applications registered over the
past two years.
2.2.2.2 GROUPS NOT COVERED BY ADMINISTRATIVE DATA
As mentioned in Section 2.2.1 above, only persons holding a residence permit in Sweden are registered in
the Population Register, which means that information about stateless persons living in Sweden illegally or
as, for example, asylum-seekers is not captured in the administrative data. Hence, there could be stateless
persons staying in Sweden amongst the victims of trafficking, and irregular migrants or rejected asylumseekers. Children born to persons falling within these categories of persons living in Sweden without a
residence permit could also be born stateless, either because their parents are stateless, or because their
parents are unable to confer a nationality on the child. The Swedish Tax Agency would not even have a
recording of the birth of such a child if the child had been born outside of a hospital or medical facility, and
the child’s parents or other legal guardian would not have notified the authorities, for example due to fear
of being apprehended as staying illegally in Sweden. This could include children born stateless to a victim
of human trafficking or to a rejected asylum-seeker who lacks the right to remain in Sweden and identity
documents (often referred to as “paperless” – “papperslös” in Swedish). UNHCR has not, within the scope
of this research, been able to find any exact data or estimations on the numbers and profiles of persons in
these circumstances residing in Sweden.
One category of persons living in Sweden without a residence permit are those in respect of whom a return
decision taken by the SMA has expired, but who still remain in the country. A return decision expires four
years after it becomes legally valid, pursuant to Chapter 12, Section 22 of the Aliens Act.72 There is no
provision in Swedish law for an automatic re-determination of the initial application for asylum or other
residence permit in such circumstances. It is, however, possible to lodge a new application with the SMA for
a permit to stay (e.g. on asylum grounds). However, the fact that the previous return decision had not been
implemented is not a basis for granting a residence permit. Whether a residence permit is granted on the
24
71
Statistics by SMA, available at: http://goo.gl/ztX5Kb.
72
Utlänningslag (2005:716), available at https://goo.gl/1QFZWD.
M A P P I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S I N S W E D E N